Crimson Peak Review

Crimson Peak is the story of Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), an aspiring writer who, after suffering a personal tragedy is swept off her feet by a handsome English landowner, and relocates to his family home across the ocean. She can also see ghosts, who visit her with… various intentions.

He’s so dreamy

The horror side of this film is what the majority of the marketing has focused on, even though it’s actually a very small part of the run time. The ghosts well realised, with a unique and creepy look, but they appear infrequently. That being said, the rest of the film helps add to these moments, and the design of the haunted house is by far the best part of the film.

It’s not just the house that looks great, however. Every aspect of the film’s design is wonderfully theatrical, but just believable enough to feel real. The costumes are also brilliant, and I can see these aspects of the film being recognised come awards season (or at least they should be). What makes this all better is that the sets are physical, which allows for some brilliant tracking shots of the characters walking through the house.

Who lives in a house like this?

Something else I appreciated about the film is that it’s made for adults. There is some pretty graphic violence, and even though it sometimes feels a little bit unnecessary, I appreciated how committed to the adult aesthetic the whole thing was, in every aspect (you’ll have to see the film to understand what I’m referring to).

Let’s talk about Crimson Peak’s biggest weakness – Charlie Hunnam. Guillermo del Toro is clearly a big fan of him, having cast him in both this and Pacific Rim, but I’m not entirely sure why. His performance did stand out as being particularly poor, especially his accent, which was… American maybe? Other than this, there’s not a lot of negatives I can point to.

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The Verdict

Not particularly scary, but still a fun movie.

4

Total score

Crimson Peak is a strange film. It definitely isn't the scary horror film the trailers promised, and it's not a particularly interesting love story, but I still enjoyed pretty much the whole thing. The general visuals and the attention to detail that went into the making of the film combine to produce a unique viewing experience.

'Why would I not watch this?' The words Todd James said shortly before watching Pudsey the Dog: The Movie. Todd is a lover of all films, except bad ones, and spends more time in a dark room watching them than somebody so pale should.